Cognitive scientists are becoming increasingly aware that a metaphysical outlook may be so deeply ingrained in human thought processes that it cannot be expunged.

While this idea may seem outlandish—after all, it seems easy to decide not to believe in God—evidence from several disciplines indicates that what you actually believe is not a decision you make for yourself. Your fundamental beliefs are decided by much deeper levels of consciousness, and some may well be more or less set in stone.

This line of thought has led to some scientists claiming that “atheism is psychologically impossible because of the way humans think,” says Graham Lawton, an avowed atheist himself, writing in the New Scientist. “They point to studies showing, for example, that even people who claim to be committed atheists tacitly hold religious beliefs, such as the existence of an immortal soul.”

In the United States, 38% of people who identified themselves as atheist or agnostic went on to claim to believe in a God or a Higher Power (Pew Forum, “Religion and the Unaffiliated”, 2012).

In the US, only 20 per cent of people have no religious affiliation, but of these, only one in ten say they are atheists.

Some offhand reference to "some scientists think..." in a magazine = seems legit

A bunch of 'peer reviewed' pillowbiters circle jerking say "it's natural!" while everyone who manages not to lust after farm animals says "no it is not". Bullshit is bullshit, no matter how many of your retarded brethren agree with you, especially when money is on the line.

Remember - half of these people graduated in the bottom half of their class... (libtard heads just imploded).

I'm an atheist. I don't believe in an immortal soul or everlasting life as preached by religions.

Of course... in a purely physical sense the energy that makes up my 'existence' never actually dies. It is dispersed. What dies is my sense of self and my container. I would assume this is the end of consciousness, but I'm not dead yet. Humans only understand 5% of their surroundings. I don't know what happens when I die. All I can say for certain is that I'll find out eventually.

I do believe that humans are instinctively religious (though that is not the term I'd use, I do not know of a better term right now) and in many cases this instinct is much stronger than others. This manifests itself in different ways based on culture and surroundings... but there seems to be a basic NEED there for most people to believe in something beyond the end of their life.

Humans have an ability that other animals do not: We can imagine. That is good, but also dark. Imagining life as short, bleak, and meaningless is BAD for a species to survive and life was HARD in ancient times. Looking to something great beyond this life ensured people tried to live. That was important to survival, and thus it thrived among humans. It was a huge help in ancient times increasing our will to live so to speak.

Organized religion took advantage of this tendency in people with good and bad results. It created a structure and in essence the first forms of government. It also created something that bound people culturally. It also helped convince the poor people to give all of their money to the rich temples... Okay... that last one was mostly prominent in the middle east with "the big 3" religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. A lot of buddhist temples did it too.

In conclusion i believe humans are programmed from years of evolution to believe in an afterlife and a greater existence as a whole, but people are not all the same. True non-belief is still an outlier to the whole of society, but it does exist.

Humans have an ability that other animals do not: We can imagine. That is good, but also dark. Imagining life as short, bleak, and meaningless is BAD for a species to survive and life was HARD in ancient times. Looking to something great beyond this life ensured people tried to live. That was important to survival, and thus it thrived among humans. It was a huge help in ancient times increasing our will to live so to speak.
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Imagining a wonderful afterlife is actually bad for species survival because it de-emphasizes what must be done to survive in this life. Atheists (what few there truly are) usually argue that they make more out of life because they know it's all they've got. There's no heaven to use as a crutch.